Making

Cheese Making Homepage

Cheese Making Steps

Basic Principles
Milk:
◦ Types
◦ Processing
◦ Yield
◦ Products
Acidification
Starter Cultures:
◦ Function
◦ Manufacturers
◦ Manufactured Products
Lipases
Colourants:
◦ General
◦ Annatto
Acids
Coagulation
Calcium Chloride
Rennets:
◦ Animal
◦ Plant
◦ Microbial
◦ Fermentation
Milk Additives
Curd:
◦ When to Cut
◦ How to Cut
Salt:
◦ Function
◦ Types
◦ Salting Curds
◦ Salting Rinds
Pressing Curds
Brine:
◦ Making
◦ Using
◦ Maintaining
◦ For Preserving
Turning Cheeses
Ripening
Rinds:
◦ General
◦ Natural
◦ Ash

Defects

General:
◦ Coagulation
◦ Surface
◦ Body
◦ Aroma
◦ Flavour
Specific:
◦ Blue Mould
◦ White Mould

Equipment

Books
Cheese Caves
Cheesecloths
Hygrometers
Mats
Miscellaneous
pH Meters
Scales
Vats (Stockpots)
Thermometers

Brine - Using

This page is divided into the following topics:

1. General
2. Brine Volume
3. Brine Tank
4. Brine Exposure
5. Brine Temperature
6. Soaking Time
7. Moving Cheese
8. Best Practices

General

Soaking cheeses for a certain time period is common with some pressed cheeses. This is normally done after pressing with a high salt content brine. Once in the brine, the cheese begins to absorb the salt and the proteins on the surface harden and form the start of the rind.

Brine Exposure

Ideally cheese should be evenly exposed to the same concentration brine on all sides to ensure even brining. In practice are are two obstacles to this:

1. As cheese is less dense than brine, it is buoyant and will float. The result is non-even brining of the cheese and air drying of the surface of the cheese above the brine. This will result in this area retaining higher moisture and thus forming a softer poorer rind in that area. To minimize this:
• Sprinkle exposed side of cheese with salt.
• Turn cheese once during brining time and sprinkle again with salt on the newly exposed surface.
• Note, this extra salt will partially make up for the salt that is absorbed by the cheese.
2. Cheese that is touching another surface, either the brine tank or another cheese, will not evenly absorb salt as 1) poor contact with brine and 2) the brine between the cheese and wall/another cheese will become reduced in salt saturation. Thus ensure enough surface-areal room for cheese(s) to float freely away from the brine tank walls and each other.

Brine Volume

As brining cheese withdraws the salt form the brine, amount of brine should be roughly 5 times the amount of cheese being brined.

Brine Tank

Brine tanks should have the following properties:

1. Sturdy to avoid failure from the weight and pressure (if large tank) of dense brine fluid.
2. Made of a salt corrosive resistant material, such as plastic or high quality stainless steel. Note, most stainless steel stockpots are not of high enough quality steel to avoid corrosion and often have easily corrodible aluminum rivets.
3. Be large enough for the brine plus the cheese(s) plus and cheese insertion or bath removal device (such as hand and arm) plus a free area for mini-waves when placing and removing cheese.

Brine Temperature

Brining temperature should be kept constant and around -60°F/15.6°C as:

1. Higher temperatures are enable a wider range of spoilage and pathogen type microorganisms to flourish and will also increase salt uptake and moisture loss in the cheese.
2. Lower temperatures will 1) restrict or kill many of the flavour producing organisms in your cheese, and 2) result in less salt uptake and higher moisture contents in the cheese, making it difficult to develop a rind.
3. If not constant, salt uptake will be inconsistent and thus cheese making results vary due to a wide range of salt content and moisture levels. Note, in addition to a stable brine temperature, allow fresh cheese(s) to reach this temperature before bathing.
4. Note, pasta filata (pulled) type cheeses like mozzarella need cold brining to quickly cool the cheese and minimize moisture loss.

Soaking Time

Normally cheese making procedure dependant and increases with cheese weight/volume, thickness, and density. For example a very hard Parmagiano will require longer than a semi-hard Havarti.

Moving Cheese

As cheese is young, it is fragile, place cheese in brine and remove from brine by lifting it from bottom, not by holding/pinching cheese from top as this can result in stress on the cheese above it's strength and fracturing of the cheese.

Best Practices

To ensure consistent results and tailor your next cheese making batch, record:

1. Brine volume, density, temperature, and pH before and after brining cheese.
2. Weight and temperature of cheese before brining.
3. Duration cheese was in brine bath and amount the cheese was turned to avoid dry areas and promote even brining.
4. Cheese's weight after brining.